Williams named university’s provost and executive vice president

11/25/2012

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (November 25, 2012) — Tuskegee University president, Gilbert L. Rochon, announced today the promotion of Luther S. Williams to the newly established position, provost and executive vice president, effective Dec. 1. Williams has served with distinction as provost and vice president for academic affairs for the past two years, with additional service as dean of Tuskegee’s graduate school, director of the Ph.D. program in integrative biosciences and faculty representative for athletics. Included among his significant accomplishments is an early warning system and extensive tutoring assistance for at-risk freshmen, which has resulted in major improvement in pass rates for basic courses and consequent student retention.

Williams

Hill

Williams will retain his provost responsibilities, as the university’s chief academic officer, reporting directly to the president. In his new capacity as executive vice president, Williams will exercise administrative oversight with respect to the holistic integration of enrollment and retention; adequacy of physical facilities; associated development requirements; budget and fiscal affairs; and academic effectiveness.

“Williams is well-positioned to serve Mother Tuskegee with distinction as executive vice president, given his stellar prior experience as a senior science administrator at the National Institute for General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation and his previous service as professor and assistant provost at Purdue University, dean of the graduate school, Washington University in St. Louis, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the system-wide graduate school at the University of Colorado and president of Atlanta University,” Rochon said.

Williams received his undergraduate degree from Miles College in Alabama and completed his doctoral studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. To assist Luther Williams in the further enhancement of academic affairs at Tuskegee University, Rochon also announced the collateral appointment of Walter A. Hill as vice provost and dean of the College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences, also effective Dec. 1.

“Dean Hill has shown remarkable leadership at Tuskegee University, at the regional level with his engagement with the Alabama Agricultural and Land Grant Alliance, the Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, and nationally with the 1890 Council of Deans,” Rochon said.

Hill received his doctorate in agronomy and environmental chemistry from the University of Illinois, master’s degrees from both the University of Arizona and the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Lake Forest College in Illinois. Hill currently serves as director of the George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station and the 1890 Research and Extension Programs at Tuskegee University.

In announcing these major appointments, Rochon expressed his confidence that the realignment will promote enhanced synergy between major core institutional functions and facilitate even greater focus on accomplishing the objectives of Tuskegee University’s $250 million capital campaign: “Programmed for Excellence.”